Security kiosks planned at Wallenpaupack schools

A new level of security is being planned at Wallenpaupack Area School District, with the addition of front entrance kiosks for visitors to pass through.

PETER BECKER

A new level of security is being planned at Wallenpaupack Area School District, with the addition of front entrance kiosks for visitors to pass through.

Assistant Superintendent Joann Hudak explained that the district has seen an increase of child custody issues and Protection From Abuse (PFA) court orders that affect who may come to pick up a child.

One option that is becoming a trend among school districts is to install kiosks requiring the visitor to insert an identification card, such as a driver's license.

Once the visitor swipes the card, the receptionist will be able to tell electronically whether the person identified by that card or license is on the school's list of persons permitted to pick up a student.

The computer will also automatically search for the identification against a national database of Megan's Law sex offenders.

Visitors would not be able to enter the school without passing through the kiosk, Superintendent Michael Silsby said.

Reading the data and allowing the person to enter would be a matter of seconds, he said.

If the scan of the identification did raise an alert, a receptionist could summon help from school security or administrators.

The kiosk is expected to be placed between the two sets of double doors at the main entrance of each school.

Hudak said the inner doors to the school facility would not open unless the visitor was cleared.

Once the visitor is cleared to enter, the computer will print a pass containing the time and date, the visitor's photograph and identification, which would then be handed to the visitor.

The visitor would no longer have to sign in.

Silsby said students won't have to pass through the kiosk when arriving at school, unless the student is late. In that case, the student will go through the kiosk and will be issued an electronically generated pass marked "tardy."

Frequent visitors the district is comfortable receiving will have to pass through the kiosk but the process can be expedited, Silsby said. A bar-coded key tag can be issued that would be scanned and a visitor pass printed.

If the visitor did not have a driver's license or other photo identification, there is a procedure to enter the information manually, Hudak said.

Wallenpaupack received a $25,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Office of Safe Schools to purchase the equipment, Hudak said.

Six kiosks would be purchased, one for each school: the high school, middle school, North Intermediate, North Primary, South Elementary and Hawley Center.

Hudak said one vendor provided the administration with a demonstration, and they will be talking with other suppliers as well before making a purchase.

She said that they hope to install them this summer and implement them for the 2014-15 school year.